If this is the layout I played at the first invitational, this is gold. Penton approved par 4s and 5s. Just wicked pin placements with greens in mind. A well thought out layout. The other layouts are also really fun._________________Boyle says BOOM!

First of all, Bronte is an awesome course. A little bit of elevation, a mix of open fields and trees, a few really interesting risk/reward holes (even for me), and some really nasty schnarb. Apparently there is a friendly way to play this course, but during the tournament the pins were in their championship positions, so some holes were just brutal.

Speaking of brutal, I have to mention the weather. Holy flowers and bunny rabbit tails. It was incredibly hot and humid, especially Saturday. Not only was the sun wickedly intense, but it has baked the ground hard and dry so that on the open holes the ground was reflecting the heat back up at us. Itís a small miracle that no one suffered heat stroke.

Water was provided, but we had used up the entire dayís supply before the end of the first round. Kudos to Dustin for making an emergency run into town to pick up more. I really canít stress enough how much heat and fatigue was a factor. I worked out that I drank at least seven litres of fluid out on the course, and at no point did the facilities become urgent.

The schedule and other important details (CTPs for the day, etc.) were all posted on a white board at HQ. No one had to ask what time lunch would be done or even wonder long what card they would be on. Scores were posted and registered with the PDGA before sundown each day.

The player packs were ready by lunch on Sunday. If you didnít follow the Flickr link, each player got a 5x7 picture of themselves putting on hole 16. With the exception of poor JJ, they are some damn fine pictures. The pictures werenít printed on some BS inkjet home job either; real photo paper, printed in an actual photo shop (well, walmart, but you know what I mean). There was also a coupon for a local pub, but I gave that away.

When it came to AM cash out, the store was charging what I consider Shire prices. I got three pretty sweet discs (star aviar driver, champ wraith, and r-pro aviar) for $58. Which reminds me, because the player packs were low cost, the payouts were pretty sweet. Leona took $100 for first and I got $60 for second. Maybe not a lot to you folks, but we had a division of only four. (At the Black Fly we had a division of four and I took $20 for second.)

If this is the layout I played at the first invitational, this is gold. Penton approved par 4s and 5s. Just wicked pin placements with greens in mind. A well thought out layout. The other layouts are also really fun.

Same layout, except hole 8 has been significantly lengthened and is now, in position D anyway, another legit, difficult, par 4.